The Devil Inside

[metternich1815]

I just watched this film yesterday because I had heard that many people had disliked it (also, besthorrormovies.com mentioned that they believed that it was one film that was really good, but a lot of people hated). Personally, I thought it was one of the most original demonic possession movies in years. The film took two overly popular horror sub-genres, Demonic possession and "found footage" or as I say "Blair Witch" Style, and took them in an interesting direction. It explored concepts that other similar films did not tend to explore: such as multiple demonic possession and transference (which has been in a number of similar films, but is not typically explored). On this note, the film portrayed demonic possession in a sort of scientific way, despite religious overtones, which is not very common in films of this sort. Additionally, the performances were brilliant, especially Isabella's mother, who appeared genuinely possessed. Thus, despite using overused sub-genres, I believe that the Devil Inside is one of the best demonic possession movies in a number of years. Just a note, I do not consider demonic possession to be real and I consider ALL supposed demonic possession to be the result of mental illness. So, what are your thoughts on this film?

[xX_StarChild_Xx]

Personally I found it confusing, poorly directed and the ending was a huge slap in the face. That's just me though. I'm always open to revisiting films I disliked to see if something hasn't changed. Your review has primed me to put this on my list of films to rewatch.

[metternich1815]

Originally Posted by xX_StarChild_Xx

Personally I found it confusing, poorly directed and the ending was a huge slap in the face. That's just me though. I'm always open to revisiting films I disliked to see if something hasn't changed. Your review has primed me to put this on my list of films to rewatch.

I think that the confusing nature of the film is part of it. The idea being that demonic possession would be very confusing and chaotic. I am not sure what you mean by "poorly directed". What specifically are you referring to? The reason I ask is that I think it was brilliantly directed, I especially liked how suspense was slowly built up and how little pieces of information would be given in every scene that would come up later, culminating in the ultimate climax. (possible general spoiler) Something that I would like to say (that I did not say in my review) is that the film also has some disturbing scenes, most prominently featured in the "baptism scene". I would definitely recommend re-watching it.

[Giganticface]

I actually really liked it too. I was expecting the worst, so that probably made a difference, but I was pleasantly surprised. It might also help that demon possession is one of my favorite subgenres, but actually that tends to make me more critical of those films. The Possession, for instance, was a disappointment to me.

I agree about the mother in the hospital -- chilling. The priest was a little on the boring side, but he was believable and not a stereotypical, religious sensationalization. Like you mentioned, that might be because it was coming from a scientific perspective.

I was pleased with the ending. I had heard that the ending was too abrupt, like they just ran out of money and decided to end it. But to me it seemed like an intentional twist, that I thought was well written, and resolved the film. I could watch it again.